Technical Director
Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI)
Dr. Matthew Raiford, Technical Director for the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI), has been researching batteries for over 15 years. He started to look at batteries while studying for his Ph. D. in Chemistry at University of Texas at Austin and has primarily studied lead-acid as well as lithium-ion technologies. Before joining CBI, Matt worked in product/market development and battery science for EcoBat, the world’s largest recycler of batteries. At EcoBat, Matt authored numerous papers and patents, focused on the materials science of lead-acid batteries and prolonging their performance life in stationary and automotive applications.
CBI serves as a global precompetitive research organization for lead batteries. At CBI, Matt manages the US Technical projects, acts as a technical liaison for the industry in the US, Europe, and India, and writes proposals for and manages government funded projects. Matt also supports the industry by focusing and developing technoeconomic reports on battery technology and working with USDOE and USDOD on lead battery technology. These projects include fundamental work, such as monitoring real time battery performance in-situ using synchrotron x-ray diffraction, all the way to applied projects, studying lead batteries in microgrids and other energy storage applications.